Doc's eyes fluttered open. He
felt weak as a kitten. A sore muscle in his neck throbbed with a
dull pain that eased as he rubbed it. A quick glance at his watch
jerked him upright. It was nearly noon!

He searched his memory...the last
thing he remembered was last evening in the garden. There was also
the dream, of course. It had obviously robbed his sleep of any of
its restorative powers. It had been pure wish-fulfillment, that
dream. He blushed as he remembered it. Well, if he could
never have Orlonda, at least he could dream about her! He dressed
and went downstairs. As he entered the dining room, he was greeted
by five of the silliest grins he'd ever seen!

"What's wrong with you
birds? Something's up...what do you know that I don't?" he
queried.

They all exchanged puzzled looks.

"Uhhh...you look like Death
warmed over, Doc...how do you feel?" Monk barely restrained another
silly grin.

"I'm hungry...I don't remember
having dinner last night."

He watched with growing unease as they
all broke into raucous laughter. He suddenly felt light-headed, so
he grabbed a chair and sat.

It was Renny who noticed that Doc had
gone several shades paler. "Knock it off, you guys," he
rumbled. "Doc, are you O.K.?"

"I think so. What is so
uproariously funny this morning...and why did I sleep so late?"

"Well, we weren't about to wake
you," sniffed Ham. "Supposing we had barged in
on...something!"

"Barged in on something?
What are you talking about?" Doc was beginning to be
annoyed. Either they were all crazy, or...

"Uh oh..." Monk's grin
faded. "Doc," he said, softly, "What do you
remember about last night? This is important!"

The urgency of Monk's tone was
unmistakable. "I remember going out into the garden to do
some...thinking...before dinner. That's all! The rest of the
evening's a blank. I had a weird dream...and woke up a few minutes
ago...feeling...odd."

"What was the dream,
Doc?" Monk's voice was deadly serious.

Doc blushed. "I'd rather
not say."

"Oh boy..." Monk
decided that beating around the bush would not help.
"Doc...it wasn't a dream! It was you and the Countess, and it
wasn't a dream! The last we all saw of you was you carrying her up
those stairs, and the way you two were looking at each
other...well..."

He searched their faces. They
were all deadly serious! Johnny reddened as Doc's gaze swept
over him.

"Johnny...?"

"Well, my room's next to yours,
and if the walls are thick enough to be soundproof, that connecting door
isn't! I spent the night with Renny!"

Doc sat back in his chair, stark
disbelief written on his features. Rarely did Doc show his
emotions, but this revelation had taken him completely by surprise!

"Not...a dream...?"
His men wouldn't lie to him -- not about something like
this! "I ...we...really did.....?" A faint reddish
tinge began suffusing his features.

Five heads bobbed slightly amused
affirmation. They had never before seen their big, bronze leader
so nonplussed.

"An' about time, too!" Monk
chortled.

"Shut up, Oaf!" Ham's elbow
jabbed Monk's ribs.

Doc's men had been watching with great
interest the play of emotions across their leader's face. It was
not often they got a peek into the bronze man's mind. Even as they
watched, they saw the look of dismayed naiveté replaced by one of
fulfilled satisfaction. The fifteen year old kid in Doc had
suddenly gown up -- and liked it!

He looked up to see them watching him,
and the old, impassive mask they were so familiar with once again
shielded his inner thoughts from them.

"Yes sir, I passed her in the
hall as I came in...shortly before dawn."

"Did she say...anything...?"

"She gave us our usual
instructions for the day, sir."

"Hmm...then why...?"
Doc indicated the formal curtsey the girl had made in his direction.

The girl colored prettily.
"Oh, sir, I am sorry...I have been too forward! But...but, I
assumed when I saw the look on Madame's face...Oh dear!"

Doc put aside his own mental turmoil
to quiet the flustered girl. "Take it easy, child, now...what
look did you mean?"

"Oh, sir, surely you know that
when a woman is satisfied with a man, she gets a certain look in her
eyes that any other woman can read immediately. Cannot you tell
when your own men are in love?"

She had him there. He nodded
assent.

"Well, if you don't mind my
saying so, sir," the girl smiled, "From the look on Milady's
face this morning...you must be...marvelous!"

A thunderbolt could not have done a
more perfect job of destroying Doc's aplomb! It was all his aides
could do not to laugh out loud. They had learned of the European
casualness in some areas of interpersonal relations on their stints in Europe
during the war. Apparently Doc's wartime education had not been
quite as broad as theirs had been! They sat there with hands
covering grins and shoulders trembling in barely restrained mirth.

The girl gazed at the effect her
pronouncement had made on Doc. "Oh, dear," she eyed his fiery
countenance. "Have I erred? It is your likeness she
keeps in her rooms. Are you not our new Master?"

"Yes...yes, I think I am.
Thank you, child." He dismissed her after extracting a
promise of silence. "Your mistress will probably make a
formal announcement soon. Until then...let it be our
secret." She curtsied again, and departed...her eyes shining.

"Thus do the mighty fall...have
some lunch." Johnny chuckled. "Y'know, Doc,"
he changed the subject, "Monk and I found some rather interesting
things yesterday. There seems to be two distinct types of ridge
formations to the local terrain. One type is fairly solid with few
possibilities of caverns, while the ridges to the northeast, near the
border, are of the type that is virtually honeycombed with caves.
This is where the spies are probably hiding out!"

"That could be the answer!"
interjected Ham. "in the village, I learned that the people
native to this region don't venture too far into the mountains due to
wolves and local superstitions, but have occasionally formed hunting
parties to wipe out insurgents from the neighboring country. They
were always puzzled about the spies' abilities to simply vanish.
They must have hidden in caves the locals knew nothing about!"

"That ties in with what we found
out, too," boomed Renny. He pulled out a topographical map of
the area, across which line in red and black ink had been traced.
"The ridges to the southeast are little frequented, with few
backwoods trails and only moderately used deer-runs. This area to
the northeast is loaded with well-concealed but distinct back trails and
overly heavily used deer-runs. This is where our spies are!
You can bet on it! We mapped as much as we could of those trails
before nightfall closed in. The red lines are the definitive
trails and back roads. The black connecting lines are the heavily traveled
deer-runs that obviously men have been using as paths."

"So...we've got the area of
operations pinpointed. If we can somehow destroy the caverns and
hiding places, the locals can police the rest of the
territory." Long Tom smiled.

"You're going to have to be
careful about that," Johnny interposed. "There's bound
to be natural gas pockets in a cavernous area such as this. You
could bring the whole ridge down on your heads if you're not
careful!"

"The problem," said Doc,
"is not quite that simple. There is another aspect that, I
must admit, is puzzling. The spies have been turning up
dead! I examined several yesterday. The throats of every one
of them had been mutilated!"

"Wolves, Doc?" Monk
shivered.

"No. While a wolf will
often attack the throat area, they have a very distinctive bite
pattern. Wolves didn't do it."

"With two exceptions. These
local bodies showed odd puncture marks on the necks, and very little
blood loss from the massive throat wounds which were the obvious cause
of death."

"Just like the bodies in the
cave!" blurted Monk.

"Yes," said Johnny.
"Doc, while reconnoitering the cavernous area, Monk and I located
several caves. One particularly large one...with a well-concealed
small opening...was full of dead men with the same conditions
evident. The most mysterious thing is that some of those bodies
were hundreds of years old! Doc...I think I know what killed them,
but you're not going to like my hypothesis...or even believe it!"

"Try me."

"We've got a vampire! I'd
bet my life on it!" Johnny always bet on sure things...and
he'd never been known to lose!

"I think that's one bet you'd
lose," smiled Doc. "If there were
a...um...vampire...around here, the local people should be
terrified. They're not! They're happy, prosperous, and only
slightly superstitious...which we can chalk up to the fairly secluded
area this fiefdom comprises. Or do you have an explanation for
their lack of fear?"

"Great!" he muttered.
"I knew I shouldn't have said anything about this without more proof!
But if it's proof you want...it's proof you're going to get! Those
books in there hold the key, and I'm going to find it!" He
got up and marched towards the library.

They watched him go. Johnny was
usually fairly correct with his hunches, but when he was wrong...he was
totally wrong! That wasn't often, but his friends were willing to
wager this was one of those times.

After lunch, Renny and Long Tom
indicated they had some more mapping to do. They were finding the
Moldanian countryside quite a challenge to their excellent woodsmanship.
They were, quite frankly, enjoying themselves thoroughly.

"Be cautious," Doc warned
them. "It is odd that we have not seen any activity as
yet. It's almost as if they've been warned of our presence, and
are laying low!"

"Think I'll tramp around on foot
an' see if I can turn up anything that Renny and Long Tom have missed on
horseback. Wanna come with me, fashion plate?" Monk grinned
at Ham.

"And end up looking like
you? That brush would make tatters of anything but your filthy
rags...which are tatters to begin with!" Ham sniffed.
"No thanks, Ape! I think I'll cultivate some of the local
lassies."

Monk gritted his teeth. It was
just like Ham to make for the feminine side of an adventure! Monk
wished he'd thought of it first! He looked at Doc and
chuckled. Well, there was one lady the ol' shyster wouldn't get!

A second look brought concern to
Monk's eyes. His chief had once again gone pale. "You,
on the other hand," he said, "Are going right back to
bed! You may be the biggest lady-killer around, but it looks like
you finally found one that's gonna kill you!" He chuckled
lecherously.

"Much as I hate to agree with
anything the baboon says, Monk's right, Doc. You look
terrible!" Ham offered. "I guess when you're not
used to this sort of thing it can throw you for a loop!"

To their surprise, Doc did not
object. He knew when his body needed rest, and it needed it now if
it ever had. All through lunch he'd felt weak and dizzy.

As they watched him wearily climb the
stairs, Ham observed, "This has really hit him hard, hasn't
it?"

"Yeah...Doc thought he had
everything worked out! No ladies, no troubles!" Monk
sighed. "If he didn't have a heart as big as all outdoors
hidden under that facade he shows the world, he'd have been safe.
As it was...it was only a matter of time till someone tripped him
up! Thank goodness it was a dreamboat like the
Countess. Hey, does marrying a Countess make you a Count?"

Doc listened to them from the shadows
at the top of the stairs. Monk was right! This had hit him
hard...very hard! He had to talk to Orlonda! He mounted the
stairs to the third floor where he had noticed her rooms the first
night, and knocked on the door he knew was here.

Silence answered him.

He tried the knob and found the door
unlocked. He walked into the candlelit room. She was not
there. It was obviously her room; exquisite personal touches...as
well as the open ledgers on a desk...told him this. One small
alcove held a nearly completed full-sized painting of himself. It
was an excellent likeness. The woman kept surprising him!

Doc pondered. If she was not
here, she was probably in her hidden chamber. he turned and
retraced his way downstairs. He moved silently through the
kitchens and cellars till he came to the tombs. Crossing to the
southeastern wall, he found the catch, pressed it and watched as the
portal swung open.

He stopped. That was her
'private place'. She had not invited him there...merely told him
of its existence. He would not violate that trust. He would
wait and speak to her later. He released the catch and the portal
closed.

He left the tomb and returned to the
upstairs, unaware that a hidden pair of eyes had watched his every
movement.

"Fascinating!" murmured a
voice from the shadows. The shadow became a figure...it followed
Doc back upstairs.

* * * * *

"Awwww...Crud! I'm
lost!" Monk had been wandering around in circles for hours!
It was beginning to worry him. If he was caught out here after
dark...alone...there were wolves in these hills!

The smell of a campfire swung him
around. "Oop! Spies, I'll bet!" Monk made
his way as silently as possible towards the source of the smell.
He came upon a small clearing. A campfire burned at the entrance
to a small, dark cave. Across the clearing was a tiny,
immaculately kept cottage. Stirring the bubbling cauldron on the
fire was an ancient crone.

The savory smell of what could only be
venison stew, rich with onions and carrots, made Monk's mouth
water. He was hungry! He considered...this could be a
trap! The smell of the stew beckoned, teased, tormented. He
was starving! It could be poisoned! That old crone looked
like a witch if he'd ever seen one...not that he ever had.

"Sniff..." He couldn't
stand it any longer. He stepped into the clearing fully expecting
a barrage of gunfire. he had been ready to leap for cover, if
necessary.

Nothing happened!

The crone waddled over and looked him
up and down with a bleary eye. "Nice...vat a handsome young
man! You make der ladies hearts go flutter, yes?"

A large grin split Monk's face from
ear to ear. The old bat wasn't half-bad if she could see
that! He just hoped she didn't entertain any romantic
notions! She was old enough to be his grandmother.

By the time they finished the stew,
they were fast friends. He asked her about the infiltrators and if
she had seen any.

"Yesss...der Lady...our Voevod,
our warrior Lady...she giffs us protection...she giffs us justice...she
even giff me dot nice cottage over dere. Just between you und me,
she giffs too much. Vhen she comes to visit, I liff in der
cottage. Vhen she not here, I liff in my nice, cozy cave!"

"You mean the Countess gets rid
of the troublemakers and spies? But...I thought General
Tepesh..."

The old woman hissed and drew
back. She made a sign, used by peasants all over Europe, to ward
off the 'evil eye'. "That one! No! Not him!
He is evil...evil! He seeks to take our Lady from us! He
vants her, und her vealth! He vill not get her! She luffs
der fair one from across the sea!"

"Yeah, Doc loves her, too!"
Monk grinned.

"Goot! It is time ve had
Master in dis land! Der Lady's eyes shine when she tells us to
help him all ve can. Dey vill rule long centuries...dey vill
protect der people...I am content!"

"The old girl is great...even if
she is a little batty," thought Monk. "But that reaction
to Tepesh...think I'll tell Johnny about that! It may be just the
thing he's looking for!"

"Speaking of help," Monk
looked at the darkening sky, "You couldn't point out how to get
back to the castle...uhh...could you?"

"Ach, to tell you how...no.
Der trail I know, but it is too late for old bones to stir far from my
cave. Vait here...I can help anudder vey." She waddled
to the back of the cottage and returned in a few moments with a
donkey. She was whispering in the donkey's ear.

"Here..." she led Monk to
the animal and indicated he was to climb on. "Now, Buska vill
take you to der castle. Vhen you get dere, turn him loose, he vill
return to me."

Monk's eyes got big.
"D-d-did you just tell him to do that?"

She nodded.

"Are you a-a-a-a witch, or
something?"

She cackled toothlessly. "Uff
course...GO, Buska!"

The donkey took off with Monk holding
on for dear life! He looked back over his shoulder.